I recently visited Chorley (on a Tuesday), not having been there for a while – what has happened?

My late mother grew up and was married in Chorley and I, as a youngster and teenager, spent many weeks staying with my grandparents each year but on my return this week, this once great town has changed beyond all recognition and not for the better!

Having visited relatives and stayed overnight in a local hotel, I decided to take a trip down memory lane and visit the town centre etc.

I had heard that Chorley was having a few problems, so arrived with an open mind.

The following is an unbiased and, I hope, objective opinion from an outsider:

Poor signage (as a visitor, I am not blessed with second sight, nor do I have a working crystal ball).

Town in need of a good clean and tidy.

Parking is a nightmare so I ended up near PC World and walking in. Fortunately, I didn’t have anything to carry back.

The Flat Iron looks decidedly down market and cheap. In fact, I’d go as far as to say “depressed”.

The pedestrian roads around Chorley Market gave the impression that the council was having a ‘Fire Sale’, whilst the further I walked around, the worse it got.

As for the once proud covered market – Damn! What has happened?

All this begs the question as to why any free-thinking person, with access to transport, would ever wish to visit the place, unless they had to.

I do not wish to cause offence to anyone living in or around Chorley, and this is only my opinion, but sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes to see a problem and this is one of which Chorley Council needs to be bold and get a grip. People need to aspire, not descend!

Steve H

via email

brexit

Culture decision is not a snub

The European Union’s announcement that UK cities are ineligible to be European Capital of Culture 2023 is not a snub, it’s just a statement of fact, and complaints are based on a sense of grievance rather than any real logic.

It’s not the Eurovision Song Contest, open to any country in Europe – the Capital of Culture is an EU project, limited to members of the EU, members of the European Economic Area (such as Norway or Iceland), and countries applying for membership (as Turkey was when they hosted it in

2010).

The rules don’t allow it to be awarded to a former EU member which has left

both EU and EEA (as we will have by 2023) and it’s a bit much to expect the EU to change their rules just to be kind to a country that’s chosen to put two fingers up to them.

Criticism of the EU for not announcing their decision immediately after the referendum is misplaced, as there was a possibility that the UK might still have decided to stay in the single market and therefore the EEA (the so-called “soft Brexit” option), it was many months before this was ruled out.

So don’t blame the EU.

If you have to blame anyone, blame the small majority of the British public who got us into this whole sorry mess in the first place by voting to leave the EU, and those in government who have chosen to damage the country even more by insisting on a hard Brexit.

Henry Grogan

Address supplied

poverty

No room at the inn this year

I saw a most unedifying sight this week while approaching a supermarket in the Chorley area.

The security guard was removing a homeless man and his small dog from outside the premises, despite a lot of customers buying him hot drinks, food and treats for his dog over the proceeding weeks.

Instead of building somewhere for the cosseted and indulged youths of this generation to go, could not some of this money have been spent on a hostel for the homeless who are more in need of a shelter?

However, it seems that there is no more room at the inn in Chorley this year.

G Kendall

Chorley

NHS

Too many managers

I think one of the reasons hospitals are short of cash, apart from Government cuts, is because they employ too many managers and inefficient staff.

I know someone who works for the NHS and the tales they tell me make me wonder why the NHS was coerced into having non-medical managers by Margaret Thatcher.

There is also the inefficiency in the purchasing of supplies – why is NHS procurement done with the most expensive companies?

Peter Hyde

via email

royalty

Professionalism of presenters

Self-confessed republican Denis Lee (Letters, November 29) wonders whether TV presenters are schooled into appearing genuine when making announcements of royal events and perhaps really deprecate the whole thing.

Well, loyal patriotism is still one acceptable part of Britishness so I expect most of them would be all right about what they have to say.

Anyway, I reckon Mr Lee underrates the professionalism of these presenters in putting forward everything in a matter-of -fact, unbiased way. For example, you hardly ever see a grimace or a snigger when mentioning Jeremy Corbyn.

Neil Inkely

Walton-le-Dale

BREXIT

More action, less talking

On Brexit, is it not time for some ‘motivation’ instead of wasteful talking?

It would be far better if our politicians addressed the major problems in the NHS, housing, crime and our

once near-perfect ‘welfare state’.

Tarquin Holman

via email

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